For those of you that use/used film...

[OceanBlue]

Hi,
I'll be shooting a friend's wedding (yes, I know. I read all the other posts lol). Yes, it will be free. I'm still a student so I'm mostly doing it for experience and no, it's not my first wedding. My question is: What should I do if they request the negatives? I personally would prefer to keep them in case I do decide to put a portfolio together...Would it even be a good idea to give them my negatives with my not-so-spectacular shots included?

Any thoughts are appreciated!

 

[AprilRamone]

I wouldn't give them away for a wedding that you are doing for free. But, if you are just worried about keeping them, how about offering to give them the scanned images on a cd instead?

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

This should be decided before the wedding. Even if you do this for free, it would be a good idea to have a contract or agreement in place, so that both parties know what is going down.

If you don't want to give them the negatives, then don't.

When I still shot film, I had all the photos put onto CD when they were developed. So after than, my workflow was all digital. You could do this, and give them the files after you have culled and edited them.

 

[Zatodragon]

I definitely suggest getting the negatives archived onto a cd. After that, decided if you want to keep the negatives or just the digital file. Chances are that you'll be working with the digital file for your portfolio anyways so i would give them the negatives if they were asking for them.

Good luck on the wedding!

 

[OceanBlue]

I definitely suggest getting the negatives archived onto a cd. After that, decided if you want to keep the negatives or just the digital file. Chances are that you'll be working with the digital file for your portfolio anyways so i would give them the negatives if they were asking for them.

Good luck on the wedding!

Thanks everybody for the suggestions. I just wanted to know what others thought. I decided I will keep the digital files and give them the negs. Seems like the best solution at the moment.

 

[Mike_E]

Hi Blue, I would suggest the other way around. If you have the neg.s then there is no question of ownership. This brings up another point, Do you have a model release form signed by both of them?

If not then you cannot legally use the photos as advertising. Friends have been known to get a little crazy from time to time and I'm not suggesting anything about any of you but, should there come a day when one or the other go fully off then they could cause you a nice bit of grief if you are using their wedding photos with out one.

 

[OceanBlue]

Do you have a model release form signed by both of them?

Not yet, but I was planning on asking them to sign one. I just get the feeling the bride is going to be a pain in the neck regarding the negs and everything else. I don't know her that well since I'm friend of the groom's.